group technology and cellular manufacturing

> Cellular manufacturing

Cells are created in a workplace to facilitate flow. This is accomplished by bringing to gether
operations (or machines, or people) involved in a processing sequence of a products natural
flow and grouping them close to one another, distinct from other groups. This grouping is called
a cell.
Cellular manufacturing is a process of manufacturing which is a subsection of just-in-time
manufacturing and lean manufacturing encompassing group technology. The goal of cellular
manufacturing is to move as quickly as possible, make a wide variety of similar products, while
making as little waste as possible. Cellular manufacturing involves the use of multiple "cells" in
an assembly line fashion. Each of these cells is composed of one or multiple different machines
which accomplish a certain task. The product moves from one cell to the next, each station
completing part of the manufacturing process.
(A manufacturing approach in which equipment and workstations are arranged to facilitate small
lot, continuous flow production. In a manufacturing cell, all operations that are necessary to
produce a component or sub assembly are performed in close proximity, often times in a U-
shaped layout, thus allowing for quick feedback between operations when problems and other
issues arise. Workers in manufacturing cells are typically cross trained and able to perform
multiple tasks as needed.)
Cellular manufacturing is a manufacturing process that produces families of parts within a single
line or cell of machines operated by machinists who work only within the line or cell. A cell is a
small scale, clearly-defined production unit within a larger factory. This unit has complete
responsibility for producing a family of like parts or a product. All necessary machines and
manpower are contained within this cell, thus giving it a degree of operational autonomy. Each
worker is expected to have mastered a full range of operating skills required by his or her cell.
Therefore, systematic job rotation and training are necessary conditions for effective cell
development. Complete worker training is needed to ensure that flexible worker assignments
can be fulfilled.
Cellular manufacturing, which is actually an application of group technology, has been
described as a stepping stone to achieving world class manufacturing status. The objective of
cellular manufacturing is to design cells in such a way that some measure of performance is
optimized.
This measure of performance could be productivity, cycle time, or some other logistics measure.
Measures seen in practice include pieces per man hour, unit cost, on-time delivery, lead time,
defect rates, and percentage of parts made cell-complete.
This process involves placing a cluster of carefully selected sets of functionally dissimilar
machines in close proximity to each other. The result is small, stand-alone manufacturing units
dedicated to the production of a set or family of parts or essentially, a miniature version of a
plant layout.
BENEFITS OF CELLULAR MANUFACTURING
Many firms utilizing cellular manufacturing have reported near immediate improvements in
performance, with only relatively minor adverse effects. Cited improvements which seem to
have occurred fairly quickly include reductions in work-in-process, finished goods, lead time,
late orders, scrap, direct labor, and workspace.
In particular, production and quality control is enhanced. By breaking the factory into small,
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homogeneous and cohesive productive units, production and quality control is made easier.
Cells that are not performing according to volume and quality targets can be easily isolated,
since the parts/products affected can be traced to a single cell. Also, because the productive
units are small, the search for the root of problems is made easier.
Quality parameters and control procedures can be dovetailed to the particular requirements of
the parts or work pieces specific to a certain cell. By focusing quality control activity on a
particular production unit or part type, the cell can quickly master the necessary quality
requirements.
Control is always enhanced when productive units are kept at a minimum operating scale,
which is what cellular manufacturing provides.
When production is structured using cellular manufacturing logic, flow systematization is
possible. Grouping of parts or products into sets or families reveals which ones are more or less
amenable to continuous, coupled flow. Parts that are standardized and common to many
products will have very low changeover times, and thus, are quickly convertible to continuous,
line-flow production. Products that are low-volume, high-variety and require longer set-up times
can be
managed so that they evolve toward a line flow.
Cells can be designed to exploit the characteristics peculiar to each part family so as to optimize
the flow for each cell and for groups of cells as a whole. Flow systematization can be done one
cell at a time so as to avoid large disruptions in operations. Then the cells that were easy to
systemize can provide experience that can be exploited when the more difficult systematization
projects occur later. Cells that have been changed to a line flow will invariably show superior
performance in the areas of quality, throughput time, and cost, which can lead to eventual plant
wide benefit.
Work flow that is adapted to the unique requirements of each product or part allows the plant to
produce high-volume and high-variety products simultaneously. Since the cell structure
integrates both worker and product versatility into a single unit, it has the potential to attain
maximum system flexibility while maintaining factory focus. Cells can be designed around single
products, product groups, unique parts, part families, or whatever unique market requirements
are identified. For the same part, there may be one high-volume, standardized design and one
low-volume customized design. Cells can be built specifically for any of these with a focus on
the individual marketing or production requirement called for by the individual product or part.
Systematic job rotation and training in multiple skills also make possible quick, flexible work
assignments that can be used to alleviate bottlenecks occurring within the cell. Since normal
cell operation requires the workers to master all the skills internal to the cell, little or no
additional training should be needed when workers have to be redeployed in response to
volume or sales
mix changes. When it is routine for workers to learn new skills, they can be easily transferred to
another job within the cell or possibly even to an entirely different production unit. Without this
worker flexibility and versatility, there can be no real production system flexibility.
LIMITATIONS
While its benefits have been well documented, it should also be noted that some have argued
that implementing cellular manufacturing could lead to a decrease in manufacturing flexibility. It
is felt that conversion to cells may cause some loss in routing flexibility, which could then impact
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the viability of cell use. Obtaining balance among cells is also more difficult than for flow or job
shops. Flow shops have relatively fixed capacity, and job shops can draw from a pool of skilled
labor so balance isn't that much of a problem. By contrast, with cells, if demand diminishes
greatly, it may be necessary to break up that cell and redistribute the equipment or reform the
families.
Also, some researchers have warned that the benefits of cellular manufacturing could
deteriorate over time due to ongoing changes in the production environment. Finally, it must be
noted that conversion to cellular manufacturing can involve the costly realignment of equipment.
The burden lies with the manager to determine if the costs of switching from a process layout to
a cellular one outweighs the costs of the inefficiencies and inflexibility of conventional plant
layouts.

► Group technology
Group technology or GT is a manufacturing technique in which parts having similarities in
geometry, manufacturing process and/or functions are manufactured in one location using a
small number of machines or processes. GT is based on a general principle that many
problems are similar and by grouping similar problems, a single solution can be found to a set of
problems, thus saving time and effort.
The group of similar parts is known as part family and the group of Machineries used to process
an individual part family is known as machine cell. It is not necessary for each part of a part
family to be processed by every machine of corresponding machine cell. This type of
manufacturing in which a part family is produced by a machine cell is known as cellular
manufacturing. The manufacturing efficiencies are generally increased by employing GT
because the required operations may be confined to only a small cell and thus avoiding the
need for transportation of in-process parts.
Group technology is an approach in which similar parts are identified and grouped together in
order to take advantage of the similarities in design and production. Similarities among parts
permit them to be classified into part families.
For example:
• A plant producing 10000 different part numbers may be able to group the vast majority of
these parts into 30-40 distinct families
• It is reasonable to believe that the processing of each member of a given family is similar
and this should result in manufacturing efficiencies
• The efficiencies are generally achieved by arranging the production equipment into
machine groups or cells to facilitate work flow
• Grouping the production equipment into machine cells where each cell specializes in the
production of a part family is called cellular manufacturing.
A manufacturing philosophy in which similar parts are identified & grouped together to
take advantage of their similarities in design and production.
It contributes to the integration of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAM (Computer
Aided Manufacturing).
The group of similar parts is known as part family and the group of machineries used to
process an individual part family is known as machine cell.
An approach to manufacturing in which similar parts are identified and grouped together in order
to take advantage of their similarities in design and production
• Similarities among parts permit them to be classified into part families
• In each part family, processing steps are similar
• The improvement is typically achieved by organizing the production facilities into
manufacturing cells that specialize in production of certain part families.
> OBJECTIVES OF GROUP TECHNOLOGY
• Reduce average lot size • Increase part variety • Increase variety of materials •
Achieve close tolerance • Improve scheduling • Reduce tooling • Increase
equipment utilization
> BENEFITS OF GROUP TECHNOLOGY
• Standardization of tooling, fixtures, and setups is encouraged • Material handling is
reduced • Parts are moved within a machine cell rather than entire factory • Process
planning and production scheduling are simplified • Work-in-process and manufacturing
lead time are reduced • Improved worker satisfaction in a GT cell• Higher quality work
group technology and cellular manufacturing 4))))))))))